The STEM Pathways program at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts continues to serve as an important resource for students and educators across the state for the 2024-25 academic year.
The hybrid online learning and teacher professional development program is serving 3,645 students and 93 teachers across the state through its Computer Science Plus, Advance Biology Plus and Advanced Statistics Plus cohorts. The Computer Science Plus Program is serving more than 3,000 students and 50 teachers statewide alone.
The Advanced Biology Plus program is serving 558 students and 38 teachers, an increase over the 2023-24 academic year. There are 40 students and five educators enrolled in the Advanced Statistics Plus program, which is in its third year of a pilot program.
“STEM Pathways continues to thrive thanks to the strong partnership between ASMSA instructors and dedicated participating teachers across the state,” said STEM Pathways Director Lori Kagebein. “Their passion for learning and commitment to providing the best opportunities for their students inspire us year after year. The feedback we receive from the teachers year after year is that the STEM Pathways program, which starts as a mentorship, turns into a supportive family, not just of ASMSA instructors but between the participating teachers as well.”
The STEM Pathways program began in 2015 with the creation of the Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative. That program offered high schools across the state the opportunity to expand their computer science curriculum while receiving guidance and professional development from ASMSA staff members. While ASMSA instructors taught some computer science courses for schools through digital learning, the main emphasis was preparing educators to gain licensure in computer science through the Computer Science Plus program.
That includes offering summer boot camps to introduce teachers to computer science. Those teachers receive guidance throughout the school year from ASMSA, including continuing professional development through weekly video meetings and a follow-up camp at the conclusion of the academic year. The goal is to prepare those educators to earn their license to teach computer science while also becoming the primary computer science teacher at their school.
The program expanded in recent years to offer a middle school coding block and the Advanced Biology Plus program. In the Advanced Biology Plus program, instructors around the state receive professional development from ASMSA’s life science specialists in the instruction of AP Biology. ASMSA’s biology teachers guide camps prior to the beginning of the school year. They then help educators prepare their curriculum for the year and provide unique lab learning activities that the individual schools may not be able to offer otherwise.
The program expanded again in 2022 with the addition of the Advanced Statistics Plus program, providing mathematics educators with instructional assistance and curriculum guidance for statistics students.
STEM Pathways is made possible in part by an annual grant from the Arkansas Department of Education.
“At the heart of ASMSA’s mission is a commitment to ignite the full potential of students and educators across the state,” said ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice. “We are grateful for the longstanding partnership with ADE that helps to make these experiences possible. STEM Pathways fills opportunity gaps and ensures advanced science and math coursework is available in districts throughout Arkansas.”
Schools and educators interested in participating in STEM Pathways can contact Kagebein at kagebeinl@asmsa.org. Additional details are available online at https://asmsa.me/digitallearning.